Thursday, December 29, 2016

Dr. Jose P. Rizal


Rizal portrait
by
Juan Luna

In commemoration of our national hero's martyrdom on December 30, 1896, let's reflect upon a few words of wisdom he left behind. They are very relevant today as they were over a hundred years ago.


On Education:

"My countrymen, I have given proofs that I am one most anxious for liberties for our country, and I am still desirous of them. But I place as a prior condition the education of the people, that by means of instruction and industry our country may have an individuality of its own and make itself worthy of these liberties."




What Rizal stood for:

"I do not write for this generation. I am writing for other ages. If this could read me, they would burn my books, the work of my whole life. On the other hand, the generation which interprets these writings will be an educated generation; they will understand me and say: 'Not all were asleep in the night time of our grandparents.'"




Dr. Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo have been required reading for high school students since the 1950s and the essence of these novels is still very pertinent in our present day society. But why have we allowed the oppressors to develop from within?





Sunday, December 11, 2016

November 2016 Hifi Show Report

Sierra Audio


Back in the late 90s, I frequented a west coast based website, Sierra-Brooks, that featured beautiful hand crafted wooden horns. Half of that partnership was Victor Sierra, a Filipino from Cebu City. In the interim, Victor had been busy managing their family business. The local audio community warmly welcomed their premiere participation in this event!


Their demo featured 3-way horn loaded speakers.



Driven by a stereo SE45 designed and crafted by one of his collaborators (below, left) using locally wound transformers by Edrel Sison


Congratulations Victor (right). Good job!

Friends in Audio 



This group of audio enthusiasts featured a 2-way horn system + super tweeter using my favorite Altec 414 woofer and a handmade wooden horn driven by an Altec 806A + EV T-35 super tweeter. At the front end was a Garrard 301 with a locally crafted linear tracking tonearm. A custom tube preamp and amp completed the system. 



Harana/Setup/Tono



Garrard 401 with a Dynavector DV507 tonearm fitted with either a Denon DL103 or Ortofon SPU-GME and a laptop/DAC combo digital source fed through a pair of Western Electric WE111C repeat coils


JE Labs stereo preamp dressed in Harana Audio hand crafted wooden case, loktal 7F7 tubes for the phono stage + 6F8Gs for line level


Harana Audio dual mono SE300B amps - Jensen input transformer > WE417A > Tango NC20 > WE300B > Tango NY15-3.5S output transformer


Harana Audio 2-way horn speakers - 15" Beyma woofers in V-Vent II enclosures, JBL 375 compression drivers behind carved horns + JBL super tweeters

For more pictures and information, please visit the November Hifi Show FB page.